Psychoanalytic Therapy Notes

Psychoanalytic Therapy

Also known as Sigmund Freud.
First born of Jacob and Amalie Freud.
Was the favorite of his mother but hostile towards his father.
Devoted most of his life formulating and extending his theory of psychoanalysis.
Family background is a factor in understanding the development of his theory.
Curious about human nature, so he pursued medicine at Vienna Medical School.

Freud experienced numerous psychosomatic disorders, fear of dying, and other phobias.
The most creative phase of Freud’s life occurred when he was in severe emotional distress.
He explored his childhood memories and realized the intense hostility he had felt for his father.
He also recalled his childhood sexual desire for his mother.
He then clinically formulated his theory.

Freud's views continue to influence contemporary practice.
Many of his basic concepts are still part of the foundation upon which other theorists build and develop.
Instincts are central to the Freudian approach.
In Freud’s view, both sexual and aggressive drives are powerful determinants of why people act as they do.
His psychotherapy focuses on psychodynamic factors that motivate behavior, the role of the unconscious, and developing therapeutic procedures for understanding and modifying the structure of one's basic character.

According to Freud, our behavior is determined by irrational forces, unconscious motivations, and biological and instinctual drives as these evolve through key psychosexual stages in the first 6 years of life.
Deterministic.

Central to Freudian Approach.
Both Sexual and Aggressive Drive are powerful determinants of why they act as they do.

Serve the purpose of the survival of the individual and the human race.
Oriented toward growth, development, and creativity.
Libido is a source of motivation that encompasses sexual energy but goes beyond it.

Account for the aggressive drive.
People manifest through their behavior of unconscious wish to die or to hurt themselves or others.

Judicial branch of personality.
Represents the ideal rather than the real and strives not for pleasure but for perfection.
It has no contact with the outside world and therefore is unrealistic in its demand for perfections.

Dreams, which are symbolic representations of unconscious needs, wishes, and conflicts.
Slips of the tongue and forgetting, for example, a familiar name.
Posthypnotic suggestions.
Material derived from free-association techniques.
Material derived from projective techniques.
The symbolic content of psychotic symptoms.

A feeling of dread that results from repressed feelings, memories, desires, and experiences that emerge to the surface of awareness.

Conflict between the Id and superego.
Superego imposing feelings of guilt, shame, or fear about violating their own moral standards

Fear that the instincts will get out of hand and cause one to do something for which one will be punished.

Occurs when a person faces a real, external threat or danger /closely related to fear.
Real tangible threat in the environment such as (physical danger, natural disaster).

Helps the individual cope with anxiety and prevent the ego from being overwhelmed.
Defense mechanisms have two characteristics in common:
- They either deny or distort reality.
- They operate on an unconscious level.

Reaction Formation: Actively expressing the opposite impulse when confronted with a threatening impulse.
Repression: Threatening or painful thoughts, memories, and feelings are excluded from awareness.
Denial: Closing one's eyes to the existence of a threatening aspect of reality.
Projection: Attributing to others one's own unacceptable desires and impulses.
Rationalization: Manufacturing